No. 2 Punahou advances to ILH Open title game

The Punahou defense forced three turnovers that were recycled into touchdowns, including linebacker Trent Shiraki's 48-yard TD interception return in the first quarter. John Lujan | SL

HALAWA — No. 2 Punahou cashed in on early turnovers to drop No. 6 Kamehameha, 35-0, Friday night in the second round of the Interscholastic League of Honolulu Open Division at Hawaiian Financial FCU Field at Aloha Stadium.

The Buffanblu (7-2 overall, 7-2 ILH) will play No. 1 Saint Louis (8-0) 6 p.m. next Saturday at Aloha Stadium for the ILH Open Championship and the sole state tournament berth that comes with the title. The Crusaders are three-time defending league champions.

The Warriors end their season at 4-6.

Hugh Brady passed for 159 yards and two touchdowns and wide receiver Koa Eldredge caught seven passes for a game-high 133 yards and two TDs. Brady survived six sacks by Kamehameha, two each by Lancen Dung and Kupono Blake. But backup Kobe Muasau passed for 100 yards and two TDs of his own for the Buffanblu.

"Yeah, he got sacked a lot, but it wasn't really hard," Punahou coach Kale And said. "They weren't like direct knockouts, but it was great for us to have both (quarterbacks) in play and have some success with both of them so. You never have enough quarterbacks, so it was nice."

The Warriors, who contained the Buffanblu to a reasonable 304 yards of offense, were their own worst enemy. Three turnovers accounted for three of Punahou's five TDs.

"You get turnovers, the momentum goes your way," Ane said. "It was good for us to get that start. We didn't think we'd get that kind of start, but we'll take it."

After the opening kickoff went for a touchback, the Warriors lost a fumble on first down, giving the Buffanblu the ball at Kamehameha 25. Five plays later, Brady connected with Eldredge for a 7-yard TD pass. Tim Horn's PAT made it 7-0 one minute, 31 seconds into the game.

Later in the first, Kamehameha lost a muffed punt at its own 11. Two plays later, Brady hit Eldredge again, this time from 12 yards to make it 14-0 with 3:34 in the first.

Kamehameha's Braden Akima returned the ensuing kickoff 40 yards to the Warriors 42, but two plays later, Punahou defensive back Trent Shiraki returned an interception off Kamehameha's Christmas Togiai 48 yards for a TD and it was 21-0 with 2:40 left in the first.

Late in the second quarter, Punahou took advantage of a 19-yard Kamehameha punt at the Warriors 44. Three plays later, Muasau rolled right and hit Kanoa Kalahiki in stride for a 20-yard TD pass with 26 seconds left in the half that opened Punahou's lead to 28-0.

Late in the third period, Punahou scored on a Muasau to Les Falatea 5-yard pass to make it 35-0 after Quinn Maretzki's PAT to start the mercy rule running clock.

The Buffanblu escaped unscathed and should be healthy for next week's game against Saint Louis.

"It's postseason," Eldredge said. "It's win or you go home. Being able to get this big win was a great win for us. This is what we wanted. We feel we can be the team to beat them, so it's just working hard, staying focused and making sure we do our jobs this week."

Togiai led the Warriors with 116 of their 164 yards of offense. He passed for 66 and rushed for 50.

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at [email protected].